Central Coast Council Chief Financial Officer and Director Corporate Affairs, Natalia Cowley, is set to leave the organisation on June 16 as she takes up the position of General Manager at Coffs Harbour City Council.
CEO David Farmer said Cowley was responsible for significant achievements at Council which will have long-lasting positive impacts for the community.
“Ms Cowley brought extensive experience with her when she joined Central Coast Council in October 2020 and used her expertise to help the organisation achieve one of the most significant financial turnarounds in Australian Local Government history,” Farmer said.
“I sincerely thank Ms Cowley for her service to the Central Coast community, her extensive contributions to Council’s Financial Recovery Plan and helping to secure the long-term financial future of the organisation.”
Cowley said some significant challenges had been presented during her time at the Council.
“Developing Council’s Financial Recovery Plan and Long-Term Financial Plan alongside CEO David Farmer has seen Council transition from a financial crisis to operational surplus a year later,” she said.
“I am grateful for the ongoing passion, drive and commitment of my team who were instrumental in achieving this.
“It’s been a privilege to serve the Central Coast community.
“I look forward to working closely with the Mayor and Councillors at Coffs Harbour City Council to help realise their vision for the City and build on the high level of service and entrepreneurial business unit offerings provided by Council staff to the community and beyond.”
Interim arrangements will be announced prior to mid-June while Council undertakes a recruitment process.
Source:
Media Release, Mar 27
Central Coast Council
Can we please stop using this term “financial turnaround?”
The Council books have only been balanced by massive ratepayer funded bailouts.
The extra money from general and water rates will amount to about $700M over the next ten years, whereas Council has stated many times it only needed $110M from rates to repay loans from the financial crisis (the rest coming from asset sales).
This means that without these massive bailouts from ratepayers, Council senior managers would still be racking up deficits. Some turnaround!
The blunt reality is that Administrator Rik Hart and CEO David Farmer have failed to address the underlying causes of the financial crisis, instead taking the easy option to fleece ratepayers.